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When Milan Lucic won the Stanley Cup in 2011 with the Boston Bruins, he followed tradition and proudly brought the Cup back to his hometown.

But he kept it fairly quiet.

Ken Mackenzie, his rugby coach at Killarney high school in East Vancouver, received a text from Lucic that summer: “He wanted to know if I would join him, four or five former teachers, a lot of friends from his grade. He rented a boat, and took (the Cup) around Coal Harbour, up Grouse Mountain and to his church.”

As the boat slid through the waters around Vancouver, Lucic shared the magic moment with those who were closest to him.

“He didn’t want to parade it around and have anything bad happen. He didn’t want to bother anyone.”

But when the boat came close to shore at Granville Island, “A cheer went up,” said Mackenzie. “Everybody on shore was cheering when they saw the Cup. He’s a hometown guy. He lives here.”

But that can also be a problem.

He was bringing the Cup home as a Boston Bruin, to a city still reeling from the riot that followed the team’s Game 7 victory over the Canucks. And sometimes it still appears to be reeling

The Bruins lost in Vancouver on Saturday night, but an altercation followed afterward at a Vancouver nightclub.

Lucic says he was on the wrong end of an unprovoked attack by a man he did not know, and with whom he had not exchanged a single word.

“There was no reason for him to punch me but he did and that’s all I can really say right now.”

Lucic said he is pursuing the matter with the Vancouver police, but the attack has added to the bitter disappointment he has felt in his hometown since the Bruins’ Game 7 Stanley Cup win.

He said his grandparents were showered with peanuts and popcorn while attending Game 1 of the final series.

In February 2012, hooligans spray-painted male genitalia along with Canucks slogans on St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church in Burnaby, which Lucic attends, and to which he had brought the cup.

His girlfriend complained about being “flipped off” in Rogers Arena, by Canucks’ wife, for wearing a Bruins jersey.

Lucic told a reporter after Saturday’s incident, “I have no reason left to defend my city and the people in my city. I’m disgusted and outraged that it had to come to something like that.”

Asked about the incident Monday at a practice in St. Paul, Minn., Canucks assistant general manager Laurence Gilman said that in a “rabid hockey market like ours,” players have a “very high degree of visibility” and have to be careful. “Things can happen. Unfortunately, you are not looked upon as a regular citizen.”

But behind the scenes, to the local friends and family he remains close to, Lucic is one of the good guys.

He doesn’t take his success on the ice for granted because he very nearly didn’t get there.

“He reminds me that he was the third-best hockey player on the rugby team. He was ambitious and he worked hard,” said Mackenzie.

Mackenzie is sure that if people knew Lucic the way he does, they’d be a little more respectful.

“He was always so quiet and reserved that I still have trouble seeing him as the power forward tough guy. In rugby he had no problems finishing tackles, but overall he was very quiet, easygoing and friendly.”

Mike Moscone, who owns the Junior B Grandview Steelers, coached Lucic from the time he was eight until he was 16. “He loves the game, he was very dedicated to the game, and whenever he had the chance for extra ice time he practised twice as hard.”

Moscone is bursting with pride about the east Van kid who, even back in the minors, was “a real leader in the dressing room.”

He is dismayed that some fans can’t let go of the city’s 2011 loss. “Milan played his guts out (in that series), just the way he always did. I wouldn’t expect him to play any other way.”

Lucic fought his way into the Western Hockey League, according to Sun columnist Iain MacIntyre, who has followed his progress.

A naturally slow skater, he had to work to build up speed. He was bypassed in the WHL draft and didn’t make the B.C. under-17 team in minor hockey, prompting him to almost give up. His first appearance at a Vancouver Giants game was entertaining on the ice between periods, wearing chicken feet.

But the underdog defied the odds. He was drafted 50th overall by Boston in 2006, won the Memorial Cup with the Giants in 2007 — and was named tournament MVP — and captained Team Canada for the 2007 Super Series against Russia.

And he has a Stanley Cup ring.

So, what do we lose if we can’t celebrate Lucic’s achievement and celebrate his victories as ours?

For Derek Popke, skating coach and president of the Vancouver Hockey School, we lose a chance for the kids coming up in the minors to have a hero, even if he plays for another city. Because no one spends more time with the little guys when he’s at the rink than Lucic.

“He’s been skating with us for about five years,” said Popke.

Lucic joins the professional skate daily at the Richmond ice centre during the summer to hone his skills.

“He’s absolutely phenomenal. All the kids know who Milan is. He is not one of those players that walks past the kids. He really makes an effort to stop, and take the time, to talk and ask them what association they play for, what position they play, and to sign autographs.”

That kind of attention is inspiring to young players, said Popke. “He came out of East Vancouver, out of the minors.”

When the kids see Lucic, they see possibility.

Richard Warke, a prominent local businessman and a friend of Lucic, brought his sons to the dressing room after the game on Saturday night.

He said Lucic is sensitive, articulate and grounded.

“It perplexes me that here you have a city with a homegrown kid that’s done phenomenally well. It is so exciting, and Vancouver should be very proud of him, of the intensity he brings to the game, how hard he works, the professionalism.”

Warke said it’s unrealistic to expect Lucic to play to lose in Vancouver. “Sure we want to win, but when he comes on the ice, we should cheer.”

He watched the video of Lucic with his sons when it surfaced on YouTube the day after the game. “I understand there’s bad blood from losing the hockey game. But that’s sports.”

The lesson he wants to take from this for his kids, he said, is a different one.

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Milan Lucic ‘disgusted’ by his hometown (with video)

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